diff --git a/ghost/image-transform/lib/transform.js b/ghost/image-transform/lib/transform.js
index 4cc96802f8..8c5af59ba9 100644
--- a/ghost/image-transform/lib/transform.js
+++ b/ghost/image-transform/lib/transform.js
@@ -3,6 +3,28 @@ const errors = require('@tryghost/errors');
 const fs = require('fs-extra');
 const path = require('path');
 
+/**
+ * Check if this tool can handle any file transformations as Sharp is an optional dependency
+ */
+const canTransformFiles = () => {
+    try {
+        require('sharp');
+        return true;
+    } catch (err) {
+        return false;
+    }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Check if this tool can handle a particular extension
+ * NOTE: .gif optimization is currently not supported by sharp but will be soon
+ *       as there has been support added in underlying libvips library https://github.com/lovell/sharp/issues/1372
+ *       As for .svg files, sharp only supports conversion to png, and this does not
+ *       play well with animated svg files
+ * @param {String} ext the extension to check, including the leading dot
+ */
+const canTransformFileExtension = ext => !['.gif', '.svg', '.svgz', '.ico'].includes(ext);
+
 /**
   * @NOTE: Sharp cannot operate on the same image path, that's why we have to use in & out paths.
   *
@@ -46,16 +68,6 @@ const unsafeResizeFromBuffer = (originalBuffer, {width, height} = {}) => {
         });
 };
 
-/**
- * Check if this tool can handle a particular extension
- * NOTE: .gif optimization is currently not supported by sharp but will be soon
- *       as there has been support added in underlying libvips library https://github.com/lovell/sharp/issues/1372
- *       As for .svg files, sharp only supports conversion to png, and this does not
- *       play well with animated svg files
- * @param {String} ext the extension to check, including the leading dot
- */
-const canTransformFileExtension = ext => !['.gif', '.svg', '.svgz', '.ico'].includes(ext);
-
 /**
  * Internal utility to wrap all transform functions in error handling
  * Allows us to keep Sharp as an optional dependency
@@ -86,7 +98,8 @@ const generateOriginalImageName = (originalPath) => {
     return path.join(parsedFileName.dir, `${parsedFileName.name}_o${parsedFileName.ext}`);
 };
 
-module.exports.generateOriginalImageName = generateOriginalImageName;
+module.exports.canTransformFiles = canTransformFiles;
 module.exports.canTransformFileExtension = canTransformFileExtension;
+module.exports.generateOriginalImageName = generateOriginalImageName;
 module.exports.resizeFromPath = makeSafe(unsafeResizeFromPath);
 module.exports.resizeFromBuffer = makeSafe(unsafeResizeFromBuffer);
diff --git a/ghost/image-transform/test/transform.test.js b/ghost/image-transform/test/transform.test.js
index b9909aa00a..cb8dbbc195 100644
--- a/ghost/image-transform/test/transform.test.js
+++ b/ghost/image-transform/test/transform.test.js
@@ -11,6 +11,17 @@ describe('Transform', function () {
         testUtils.modules.unmockNonExistentModule();
     });
 
+    describe('canTransformFiles', function () {
+        it('returns true when sharp is available', function () {
+            transform.canTransformFiles().should.be.true;
+        });
+
+        it('returns false when sharp is not available', function () {
+            testUtils.modules.mockNonExistentModule('sharp', new Error(), true);
+            transform.canTransformFiles().should.be.false;
+        });
+    });
+
     describe('canTransformFileExtension', function () {
         it('returns false for ".gif"', function () {
             should.equal(